A murmuration of starlings in my back garden

Over lunch, I glanced out the window into our back garden. The sky was full of starlings. I grabbed my phone and stepped outside. When I looked up, I was reminded of those shots of an endless stream of bombers crossing the English Channel on D-Day. The sky was busy with birds.

This was the first time I’d ever seen a murmuration of starlings in real life. They were a great amoebic mass, and seemed to behave almost exactly like a school of fish. Nature copies itself all the time.

I’m afraid the combination of an iPhone camera and many small black dots against a partially-cloudy sky isn’t exactly a recipe for brilliant web video. But here’s what I put together. And yes, I did get pooped on. Just my foot, mind you, but it counts.

Murmuration of Starlings over Argeliers, France from Darren Barefoot.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t cite the most Internet-famous (and much better looking) video of starlings, uh, murmurating.